Supervisor Norma Santiago visits Pollock Pines for Community Identity and Community Planning rollout

In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Pollock Pines once again showed up in droves to work with Supervisor Norma Santiago and partner-facilitator, Michael Ward, by speaking their authentic voices from every demographic in Pollock Pines.  CEDAPP has been convening these town hall community meetings for six years and as such, laid the foundation for the infrastructure now present in Pollock Pines as we roll out the process for Community Identity and Community Planning as an integrated approach to community unity as committed neighbors, businesses, and organizations with a common and shared vision supporting and promoting Pollock Pines.

The first such meeting was on December 3rd.  Members of the county Economic Development Advisory Council (EDAC) and the sub-group simply called the Regulatory Reform group, presented to the community a dynamic and user friendly power point presentation educating attendees about the “new and now” processes that have led to the establishment of the new Community Development Agency.  The purpose of last night’s meeting was to further the process by amassing feelings and ideas about what our community does (and could/should) look like and feel like.  Four main areas of strength seemed to surface:   Natural Resources (Nature’s Wonderland), History and Heritage, Recreation, and Rural (small town) Living. From those four main topics possible opportunities to capitalize on those areas were discussed and polled.  Once again, the community spoke.  Tourism (both recreational and historical), recreation businesses, and general face lifting were all possibilities that townsfolk mentioned as passions.  

It was a standing room only crowd, supported by many visitors from other communities to observe the roll out of the exciting “new and now” processes formulated by EDAC in partnership with the Board of Supervisors of El Dorado County.  It was the first cut and a very positive one, at that! These meetings will be a series of meetings whose final outcome will be the creation of a Community Plan in partnership with the county government…initiated by the community, thus giving the newness “from community to government” as opposed to “from government to the community.”  I am so thankful to live in a county that does listen and hear their constituency, as well as work collaboratively with them.  Thank you BOS! 

If anyone would like more information on the processes, give me a call at
(530)613-1332 and I’ll be happy to fill you in on the next meeting dates and locations.

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